Dam collapse in Paraguay causes major flooding (video)

The dam of San Benito Lake in Paraguay's Itapúa department breached on April 9, 2017, leading to a major flash flooding event, that broke the Graneros del Sur road in two.

Authorities said there were no casualties, but the flooding caused major infrastructural damage. It seems that the collapse occurred as a result of the rupture of the dam, caused by the immense flow of water that fell during the heavy rainfall that began the previous day.

The dam was used by San Benito agricultural school for electricity but was abandoned for a long time. According to locals, the water levels in San Benito Lake were low for the past 30 years, before the recent extremely heavy rains that hit tha country. The Ministry of Public Works and Communications stated that the dam administrators should have opened the floodgate to release the water.

This was one of three flash flood events in the south of Paraguay that occurred after the heavy rains of Saturday, April 8. The overflow of two more streams also caused significant damage in nearby regions, though luckily no casualties.

You may watch a video capturing the damage caused by the flooding event in Itapúa under Media below.